Uganda Peoples Defense Force Staff Sgt. Alex Agudio along with Seabees from the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3 arranges the back piece of a form in place. A form is constructed at the foundation of a bridge and is used to hold concrete in place while it dries. The NMBC 3 detachment, ported in Hueneme, Calif., is currently deployed to Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, and is schedule to complete the bridge in January 2010. Photo by Staff Sgt. Ronald Lafosse

The camp’s perimeter looks like it has been overgrown by bushy Central African foliage. The plant life conceals five-foot-diameter coils of concertina wire strung through it by Seabees from one of the U.S. Navy’s mobile construction teams.

At the modest camp’s core is a series of canvas tents, each the color and texture of cracked, dry desert mud. These tents provide living space and working facilities for the 25 Seabees and two U.S. Air Force communication specialists assigned here. Construction equipment and trucks are arranged neatly, away from the tents. Mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere, along with birds and small reptiles.

The three free-standing, facilities on the camp are its two containerized washrooms and a small wood-constructed dining facility. There’s one tree, near the entrance to the camp.

“We live in tents and sleep on cots, but we make it work. I haven’t heard one complaint about the conditions here,” said St. Louis native constructionman, Seaman Christina Follmer, a Seabee assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 3.

NMCB-3, based out of Port Hueneme, Calif., is one of two battalions which have worked on this project. Physical work on the Aromo Bridge water crossing has been in progress since at least April, but it was in the planning and engineering phases before that. When the support structures are completed, a multi-section, 140-foot span will be properly balanced and pushed out on rollers, counterbalanced on one end and otherwise without supports above or pylons below.

Gravity, the construction of the span and the workmanship of the Seabees will allow the bridge to stand on its own after the counter-balancing load is removed. For their part, NMCB-3 has been concentrating its efforts on creating solid abutments in muddy bluffs on either side of the Achwa River. NMCB-3 relieved a crew from NMCB-11 from Gulfport, Miss., on this site.

Follmer and the other Seabees here have lived the same routine, day-in and day-out, for the last two months. They leave this camp and drive two miles to their job site, a bridge under construction, and spend their assembling heavy gauge wire baskets called gabions. Then they are filled with local rock provided by a Ugandan contractor and stacked accordingly to specifications to provide a solid base for the new abutments.

“This is what I do. I’ve been swinging a hammer since I was a kid. So this is right in my line of work,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Steven Szyplinski, a builder and native of Washougal, Wash. Szyplinski is currently the bridge foreman and uses his experience in construction to direct the other Seabees.

Every day, when they’re done with the first half of the day’s work, they head back to their camp to relax over lunch. Today, they are treated to the smell of roasting meat; it’ll be steak for the mid-day meal.

While they wait for the word, they stand under their shade tree, trying to stay out of the hot October sun. Usually, around 1 p.m. the word for lunch hits and Seabees gravitate to the galley.

After lunch, Chief Petty Officer Thomas Sharp, a utilitiesman and assistant officer in charge, said the Seabees are scheduled to push the British-fabricated, component-constructed, 140-foot Mabey-Johnson bridge in place this December. They will use an excavator which will allow them to control the bridge more safely rather than pushing it by hand.

Ensign John Daly, mission commander for NMCB-3′s Seabees here, said the construction of the cantilever bridge project is nearing the 40 percent mark. Tropical Ugandan rains slow progress from time to time, making the ground a muddy soup that Daly described as being difficult to walk in. The equatorial sun dries the rain-soaked dirt, leaving a cracked-earth walking surface — and nearly everyone on the site caked in layers of dried mud. Their sweat keeps the silt in their boots wet as they work.

“As long as we have good work to do every day, good food to eat and get to call home once in a while, the days roll right along and carry with them incremental progress,” said Daly. “It also helps to be able to take a decent shower at the end of the day and to put on some dry shoes.”

Even the most junior Seabees on the job are focused. “We know we are here for the people, and everyone takes pride in the work,” said Follmer, sweat making tracks through the caked dust on her face. The Sailors have also made friends here, trading laughs and small commercial items as gestures of trust and friendship.

“A lot of people go out of their way here, whenever we go into town, to buy school supplies for the kids,” said Follmer. “Everyone is really trying to pull together and help out. Whether it is including them in our physical fitness training or simply going around and asking them ‘Hey, do you need help,’ or ‘How are things going,’ trying to understand their lives.”

Follmer continued, “The kids will continue benefiting from the bridge long after we are gone.”

“It rains almost every single day here, which we know is a blessing to the Ugandans, but it makes for a challenging project, especially working on a drainage feature crossing,” said Daly. “This is exactly the kind of work we joined the Navy to do, so the chance to do it, regardless of the environment, is exciting.”

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Ronald Lafosse